Israeli woman contracts ‘superbug’

JERUSALEM (JTA) — An Israeli woman who was hospitalized in India returned home carrying a "superbug."

The intestinal bacteria are resistant to antibiotics and have caused deaths in other countries.

The woman, 50, was quarantined in an Israeli hospital following the discovery of the bacteria containing the enzyme New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase-1, better known as NDM-1. The enzyme reportedly breaks down antibiotics which effectively make the host immune to them.

The Israeli Health Ministry’s special unit for antibiotic-resistant infections has ordered all hospitals to test any patient who received health care in India since 2008.

Doctors, nurses and others who came into contact with the woman were tested and found not to be carrying the enzyme. The woman will be released from Sheba Medical Center in Tel Aviv in the coming days after the bacteria have left her system.